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Conquering Nature: The Enviromental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba (Pitt Latin Amercian Studies)
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Average customer review:
Product Description
Between the early 1960s and the late 1980s the environmental situation worsened despite Cuba’s achieving one of the lowest population growth rates in the world and having eliminated extreme living standard differentials in rural areas, two of the primary reasons often blamed for environmental deterioration in developing countries. The government’s approach was to “conquer nature” and under its central planning approach, it did not take local circumstances into consideration. This disregard for the environmental consequences of development projects continues to this day despite official allegations to the contrary—as the country pursues an economic survival strategy based on the crash development of the tourist sector and exploitation of natural resources. An underlying conclusion of the book is that the environmental legacy of socialism will present serious challenges to future Cuban generations.
Conquering Nature provides, for the first time, a relevant analysis of socialist environmental policies of a developing country. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Cuba and those interested in environmental issues in developing countries.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2295312 in Books
- Published on: 2000-03-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 344 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"For 40 years I have worked on Cuba and never thought that a study on the island environment under socialism could be done. Despite the apparent lack of information, D'az-Briquets and Perez-Lopez have accomplished the impossible task, providing data and analysis on every important aspect related to the topic: law, physical setting, demographics, mining, industry, nuclear energy, agriculture and forestry, water, urban decay, and the impact of the 1990s crisis. Certainly, it will become a classic." -- Carmelo Mesa-Lago, University of Pittsburgh
"This book is a necessary and timely contribution to our understanding of the challenges that Cuba faces at the turn of the century. It attempts an overview of the environmental problems that have resulted from (or have been worsened by) almost forty years of socialist policies. The book is balanced and avoids excessively ideological positions. It is a remarkable book." -- Hector Suez, School for Field Studies, Beverly, Massachusetts, and the Center for Sustainable Development Studies, Costa Rica
"This is a rich book that will be welcomed by scholars on Cuba, Latin America, environmental affairs and policy, and political science. It is fair, even-handed, and raises numerous thoughtful questions about the predatory nature of unfettered capitalism and socialism disengaged from popular participation and a concern with the sustainability of renewable resources, and the conservation of those that are nonrenewable." -- Emilio Moran, director, Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change, Indiana University
About the Author
Sergio Diaz-Briquets is executive director of the Council for Human Development and vice president of Casals & Associates, a consulting firm in the Washington, D.C. area. Previous appointments include research director of the U.S. Congressional Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, and project director with the Population Reference Bureau. He has also been a consultant to numerous international development agencies. His books include The Health Revolution in Cuba, and Cuban Internationalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has a Ph.D. in demography from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jorge Perez-Lopez is an economist with the U. S. Department of International Labor Affairs. He is author of The Cuban Second Economy: From Behind the Scenes to Center Stage, The Economics of Cuban Sugar, and Measuring Cuban Economic Performance, co-editor of Perspectives on Cuban Economic Reforms, and editor of Cuba at a Crossroads and is on the editorial board of Cuban Studies. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of New York at Albany.
Customer Reviews
doesn't make the case
This book sets out to show that Cuba is worse off ecologically under socialism than it would have been under free market conditions. The book is a complilation of work by other authors. These writers did not go to Cuba, haven't seen ecological conditions for themselves, nor interviewed residents of the island.
Most of what I read in this book was the same information I have read in other books about Cuba - and no case was made to show that the course taken ecologically in Cuba was different than or worse than the course of ecological degradation that takes place in other carribean islands or the US, for that matter.
While reading this book I was also reading Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment You can compare what's going on here to what is taking place in Cuba and see that the economic systems don't seem to make any difference when it comes to environmental degradation.
I gave this book three stars because it did not make its case, but it did make the case that conditions in Cuba are better than in other islands in spite of the US embargo.
